The present invention relates to equipment used on unpaved ground surfaces and more particularly to a tracked vehicle with a load balancing system for use in lumbering operation and the like on earth surfaces with little weight bearing capacity; the tracked vehicle with load balancing system including a tracked chassis assembly having a pair of tracks and a cab attachment rail assembly; a cab assembly slidably mounted to the cab attachment rail assembly such that the cab assembly slides between a forward cab position and a rearward cab position with respect to the tracked chassis assembly; and a cab assembly positioning assembly including a dual rod hydraulic cylinder assembly including a cylinder barrel connected to the cab assembly and two opposed piston rods each having a rod end connected to an opposed tracked chassis assembly end, a hydraulic pump having hydraulic outputs in connection with the dual rod hydraulic cylinder through a hydraulic control valve for controlling movement of cylinder barrel such that he cab assembly moves forward and rearward with respect to the tracked chassis assembly in response to movement of the cylinder barrel with respect to the two opposed piston rods; the hydraulic control valve being positioned on the hydraulic cab assembly such that operation of the hydraulic control valve allows an operator positioned in the cab assembly to position the cab assembly forward and rearward on the tracked chassis assembly such that the weight of the cab assembly and any load supported by the cab assembly is positioned to provide the most balanced load on the tracks of the tracked chassis assembly to prevent sections of the tracks from bearing greater weight loads than other sections of the tracks and thereby allow the combined weight of the tracked vehicle with load balancing system to be spread over a larger earth contacting surface area of the tracks such that the tracked vehicle with load balancing system may be operated on soils with lower load bearing capacities than a substantially identical tracked vehicle without the load balancing system.
Tracked vehicles are often used to gain access to areas where roads do not exist and soil conditions are such that the soils are incapable of supported vehicles with tires. It is thus desirable to provide lumbering equipment and construction equipment such as pipe line construction equipment with tracks to spread the weight of the vehicle over a larger area thus allowing the vehicle to travel over soils with limited support capacity. Although tracked vehicles can be used on soils with poor support characteristics, sometimes, such as in the case of lumbering equipment, the equipment is required to lift heavy loads causing the weight distribution on the earth contacting surfaces of the tracks to become unbalanced resulting in heavier loads on sections or portions of the tracks that are excessive for the soil conditions causing the vehicle to become bogged down. It would be desirable, therefore, to have a tracked vehicle that included a mechanism for positioning the cab assembly and any loads supported by the cab assembly forward or rearward along the tracked chassis so that the weight of the cab assembly and load could be more evenly distributed onto the earth contacting surfaces or portions of the tracks and thereby minimize the chance of the tracked vehicle becoming bogged down as previously described.
It is thus an object of the invention to provide a tracked vehicle with load balancing system that includes a tracked chassis assembly having a pair of tracks and a cab attachment, rail assembly; a cab assembly slidably mounted to the cab attachment rail assembly such that the cab assembly slides between a forward cab position and a rearward cab position with respect to the tracked chassis assembly; and a cab assembly positioning assembly including a dual rod hydraulic cylinder assembly including a cylinder barrel connected to the cab assembly and two opposed piston rods each having a rod end connected to an opposed tracked chassis assembly end, a hydraulic pump having hydraulic outputs in connection with the dual rod hydraulic cylinder through a hydraulic control valve for controlling movement of cylinder barrel such that the cab assembly moves forward and rearward with respect to the tracked chassis assembly in response to movement of the cylinder barrel with respect to the two opposed piston rods; the hydraulic control valve being positioned on the hydraulic cab assembly such that operation of the hydraulic control valve allows an operator positioned in the cab assembly to position the cab assembly forward and rearward on the tracked chassis assembly such that the weight of the cab assembly and any load supported by the cab assembly is positioned to provide the most balanced load on the tracks of the tracked chassis assembly to prevent sections of the tracks from bearing greater weight loads than other sections of the tracks and thereby allow the combined weight of the tracked vehicle with load balancing system to be spread over a larger earth contacting surface area of the tracks such that the tracked vehicle with load balancing system may be operated on soils with lower load bearing capacities than a substantially identical tracked vehicle without the load balancing system.
Accordingly, a tracked vehicle with load balancing system is provided. The tracked vehicle with load balancing system includes a tracked chassis assembly having a pair of tracks and a cab attachment rail assembly; a cab assembly slidably mounted to the cab attachment rail assembly such that the cab assembly slides between a forward cab position and a rearward cab position with respect to the tracked chassis assembly; and a cab assembly positioning assembly including a dual rod hydraulic cylinder assembly including a cylinder barrel connected to the cab assembly and two opposed piston rods each having a rod end connected to an opposed tracked chassis assembly end, a hydraulic pump having hydraulic outputs in connection with the dual rod hydraulic cylinder through a hydraulic control valve for controlling movement of cylinder barrel such that the cab assembly moves forward and rearward with respect to the tracked chassis assembly in response to movement of the cylinder barrel with respect to the two opposed piston rods; the hydraulic control valve being positioned on the hydraulic cab assembly such that operation of the hydraulic control valve allows an operator positioned in the cab assembly to position the cab assembly forward and rearward on the tracked chassis assembly such that the weight of the cab assembly and any load supported by the cab assembly is positioned to provide the most balanced load on the tracks of the tracked chassis assembly to prevent sections of the tracks from bearing greater weight loads than other sections of the tracks and thereby allow the combined weight of the tracked vehicle with load balancing system to be spread over a larger earth contacting surface area of the tracks such that the tracked vehicle with load balancing system may be operated on soils with lower load bearing capacities than a substantially identical tracked vehicle without the load balancing system.